Contract for musicians still waiting

By David Hendricksdhendricks@express-news.net

Updated 12:07 am, Tuesday, September 20, 2011

With two weeks left before season-opening rehearsals, contract talks between the San Antonio Symphony Society and musicians are on hold after the musicians rejected management’s offer to cut more than $8,000 from last year’s base salary to around $23,000, a level the musicians say they cannot live on.

The symphony society also faces a $750,000 operating deficit from the season that ended in June, even though the musicians accepted a pay cut in February from their contracted amounts.

Both management and the musicians use the word “unsustainable” with regard to the symphony’s financial situation. Symphony President and CEO Jack Fishman said revenue declines in the past two years are unsustainable. The musicians say their pay reductions likewise are unsustainable.

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The last management-musician meeting occurred Friday. Both sides say they expect further talks, although no date has been set.

Fishman said a portion of the ticket revenue for the coming 2011-12 season has been spent for the organization to survive to this point. It is the first time in eight years that the symphony has spent season ticket renewal revenue to help pay for the previous season, Fishman said.

The amount spent so far is $335,000 out of projected ticket sales of $2.2 million for the 2011-12 season. Season tickets for the coming classical and pops series have been mailed to subscribers and are still planned, Fishman said.

Last season, the Symphony Society revenue was about $5.7$5.68 million, but expenses totaled more than $6.43 million.

The musicians said the Symphony Society made an offer of a 26-week season at $893 a week, which would equal a base pay of slightly more than $23,000 per season, 25 percent off less than last season’s contracted base pay.

The musicians union negotiating committee, led by violinist Craig Sorgi, said it later made a contract offer of 33 weeks of work at $1,060 a week in base pay, a $15-per-week increase over the contracted $1,045 last season, which covered 30 weeks of work.

Fishman declined to comment on contract offers the musicians’ reports of the two sides’ offers or other negotiation issues. “We have tremendous respect for what the musicians do. We are committed to paying them as much as we think we can deliver. We have to deliver on whatever contract we sign,” he said.

“We’re told we have to work more for less because that is what the community wants,” said bassoonist Brian Petkovich, a negotiating committee member. “We need to be compensated to present what we think the community wants. ... We’ve made sacrifices to continue to play. At some point, we have to feed our families.”

Petkovich said the musicians’ base pay has shrunk about $8,000 with cuts the musicians agreed to during the last three seasons of the just expired four-year contract. Now, musicians are asked to take another $8,000-per-season pay reduction during the 2011-12 season, he said.

The musicians have calculated that 46 percent of the symphony’s budget goes to orchestra musician pay, and that’s where all the cuts are proposed. “There are no ideas or proposals to cut” administrative or artistic portions of the budget, including for guest artists, Petkovich said.

Fishman said the administrative budget already has been shaved by $200,000 a year over the past several seasons. “I am confident we are operating in as efficient a manner as possible,” Fishman said.

“We are always working on ways to increase revenue,” Fishman added. Season ticket renewals have risen in the past several seasons, and so have individual donations. Foundation gifts have declined.

“The institutions have lost a large portion of their net worth” the past four years, Fishman said. “If we could raise our resources, we could raise our offer. ... We don’t think this economy is going to change much.”

Sorgi said the talks so far have centered on reaching a one-year contract, although the musicians are open to discussing a multi-year contract.

The symphony is scheduled to be the largest performing arts group to move into the planned $195 million Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, set to open in 2014.

The orchestra is scheduled to begin rehearsals Oct. 4 for Young People’s Concerts on Oct. 7. The first classical subscription concerts are scheduled for Oct. 14 and 15.